May 25, 2011

Black Bean and

Sweet Potato Enchiladas

Notes:

We are new to this cooking show game and this episode is just a tad all over the place.

Since I was just cooking without a plan (surprise, surprise!) the amounts were off.

Since I was drinking wine (no surprise) my judgement and thought-processes were off.

I started making this dish and then had to effectively triple the recipe due to more hungry mouths in the house. Which worked out perfectly well since I had made triple the amount of filling right from the get-go. To summarize: Enchiladas are super easy! Filling of your choice, a tomato-based sauce, and tortillas. Corn tortillas are key because they are superior. Also I would imagine that flour tortillas would get gummy and gross. Cook your filling, roll and sauce up your tortillas, and bake for a little while. Et viola, in your mouth.

May 7, 2011

Our dear friends, Mr. and Mrs. Lyt-An, were in town recently and I had the honor of cooking this for the four of us (three really, one of us was sleepy). Here is the original recipe for the short ribs and bean puree. I’ve made this recipe a few times and my only word of advice is: resist the urge! Let this baby cook as long as you can possibly handle. I aim for an extra hour of cooking time on the stove. You really want the connective tissue to break down, the fat turn into melt-in-your-mouth yum, and the bone marrow to seep into the sauce. (All my vegetarian friend just threw up in their mouths a little bit.)

I dry sauteed the mushrooms, no salt, until browned, then added garlic, butter, soy sauce, and balsamic vinegar. This is my go-to method for mushrooms and I gotta say, they’re pretty damn delicious.

For the asparagus I used the zest and juice of a whole lemon sprinkled on top with some olive oil and kosher salt. 350° till done.

The four three of us made many yum noises while we shoved this in our faces. We were so excited to eat this after 4 hours of cooking time that we forgot to get plated pictures, instead here is some aftermath.

Notes:

I usually make this with whatever beer I have handy, we always have something tasty in the house.

I didn’t follow the bean recipe exactly but with bean puree you can do pretty much whatever you want. I have served this with polenta and mashed potatoes as well. You know, a creamy starch to soak up all that lip-smackin’ sauce.